APEC Meeting Ends With Call for Trade Action

Asia-Pacific leaders wrapped up three days of meetings Monday with proposals to reduce trade barriers, strengthen the World Trade Organization and improve financial markets in the wake of the Asian economic crisis.

After a late Sunday breakthrough in the political crisis over neighboring East Timor, leaders from the 21 APEC member economies finally found themselves in a position to pay a bit more attention to business.

Indonesia defused the crisis, at least temporarily, by announcing it would back down and allow an international peacekeeping force into the strife-torn island--the site of a recent, widespread, military-backed killings.

The most important economic development at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, a decision by Washington and Beijing to resume negotiations over China’s entry into the WTO, failed to produce a deal.

Since the agreement Saturday by President Clinton and China’s President Jiang Zemin to resume negotiations, however, several more bilateral meetings have been held. This has raised expectations the two sides can narrow their differences after a 13-year standoff and bring China in before the next WTO round of trade talks starts Nov. 30 in Seattle.

From Auckland, Clinton today flew on to Queenstown, a resort on New Zealand’s South Island, for a day of rest before his state visit on Wednesday in neighboring Christchurch. The president is due back in the White House on Thursday.

Even without an immediate agreement with Beijing, Clinton leaves Auckland with some wind in his sails heading into the new WTO round. APEC’s 21 members, which represent 45% of world trade and $16 trillion in economic output, backed U.S. calls for a short, substantive WTO agenda under a three-year deadline that would cover global trade in all farming, services and manufacturing areas.

“Things could not have gone much better in that regard,” said Gene Sperling, White House economic advisor.

In their final declaration, APEC leaders also called for the abolition of all agricultural export subsidies--a stance aimed at pressuring the European Community to reduce its bloated export payment and other subsidy programs.

While the United States is one of the only APEC nations with its own farm export subsidy programs, Washington is gambling that U.S. farmers can live without these payouts if their European competitors are persuaded to do the same.

APEC leaders also agreed to explore regional banking standards and push for a more open airline market, including an end to restrictions on air freight, ground handling, computer reservation systems and shared flights, known in the industry as code-sharing.

The leaders, who this year donned black sailing jackets given by their New Zealand hosts in place of the batik and flannel shirts worn at past summits, said the group made great progress on its free-trade agenda.

“This was not froth and bubbles,” said New Zealand Trade Minister Lockwood Smith. “It’s very solid.”

Still, the relatively minor scope of the agreements, apparent backsliding by some nations on individual free-trade targets and the lack of deadlines or specifics will do little to appease critics who continue to question APEC’s effectiveness.

“To the extent there are feel-good talks on globalization, fine, but does it really do anything?” asked Bill Belchere, Singapore-based regional analyst with Merrill Lynch. “I doubt it.”

The U.S.-China talks could prove more substantive. Both nations Monday were using the same terms--positive and constructive--to characterize their meetings, even as Sperling warned reporters there was still a great deal of work ahead.

Sperling declined to elaborate on specific problems, but Chinese officials said one key difference remains whether China will join as a developing country--which would give it more time to comply with global standards--or with the status of a more developed nation, as Washington prefers.

“This has been a marathon negotiation rarely seen in history,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, referring to the decade-long effort.